☇ 005 - video & action those in cherrygrove

[solidbarrels]

[ the video feed turns on and the first thing the viewer will see is Cyndaquil's face up close and personal. It looks frantic before it starts screaming into the pokegear ]

Cynda! Cyndaquil!! CynCyn DaQuil CyndaQuil QuilQuil! CynCynCyn Da Cyndaquil! QuilQuilQuil DaDaDa, Cynda Quil?!

[ Waving its arms, it points the camera toward its trainer. Squall looks like he hasn't had any sleep in days (weeks). He muttering to himself. Out loud. There's a wild, bewildered (even fearful) expression on his face. His fingers are digging into his right shoulder. He's without his jacket (and gloves) for once and if someone manages to look close, they might notice the faint burn marks on his wrists. ]

Not Dead. Not Dead. They're alive, they're not dead. They're not gone. Didn't fail them. Didn't let them down. Made sure they'd be safe. That's not them. Can't be them. Not them. Can't be them.

She's not here. Not here, not here, not here!! This isn't her castle. This isn't her trophy room. Not her castle. Not her castle. Not there. Not there. Not dead. They're alive. They're living. They're fine. Not dead, not dead.

[ He grips his head with both hands, shaking it furiously. The Cyndaquil cries out again but its trainer ignores him--apparently this had been going on since last night...]

Didn't fail. Didn't let them down. Didn't fail them. I protected them. all of them. Didn't I? Didn't I? Made sure of it. Made damn sure of it. Had to. I had to. I had to protect them. Be strong. I needed to be strong. For her. For them. For all of them. Wasn't I? Wasn't I?


[ Suddenly Squall's head lifts and he yells out, one arm flinging toward the side ]

Those aren't their bodies!! I didn't fail anyone!!


[ He quiets almost immediately, his eyes widen as if he's seeing something else in front of him.]

Hyne... No...

Cynda!! Cyndaquil!! Quil Quil Cynda!

[ The feed cuts as Squall collapses onto the ground, shaking his head fervently and his Cyndaquil looks pleadingly at the camera--obviously wanting someone to help its trainer.]



[[ ooc: Squall's reliving a twisted memory of Ultimecia's castle with dead (and decaying) bodies littering everywhere. They're ranging from his fellow classmates, to his friends in FF8 to even the Cosmos Warriors. He's also remembering the time Rinoa was trapped in space and in a coma. :> And possibly his sis 'abandoning' him, too, when he was like four. >>;]]

Comments

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[Cyndaquil squeaks at the new arrivals, the strange men who its Trainer met earlier. Squall's head remains firmly bowed, shaking fervently in denial. His lips move but he's not saying anything.

[ The touch of a hand on his shoulder and the SeeD jerks, flinching hard. His eyes are still closed, afraid that if he opens them he'll be seeing her--lifeless, dead. Floating in space, along with dozens (hundreds) of familiar looking corpses around him

[ Squall's throat tightens, his left hand immediately grasping his right shoulder, digging into an old wound again with hard enough force to leave marks. ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Light kneels down to attempt to pry Squall's hand away from his shoulder, to keep him from doing anything to hurt himself.]

Squall. They aren't dead. I promise you. It is a trick.

[action]

[paladinlost]

[Cecil also kneels, and tries to cast cast a Cure spell on Squall's shoulder, but..]

No magic...?

[He'll deal with that later. First they need to snap Squall out of it.]

Squall, please, open your eyes. Light and Firion and I are there, see? We're in Cherrygrove, not a castle. Everyone is fine, we're all just being tormented by some outside force. It's nothing but a nightmare.

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

Magic does not exist in this world. Sorry, Cecil.

[He reaches to rub Squall's back, trying to soothe him and distract him from the nightmare. It was something Maria's mother did for Firion when he was young and the death of his parents were fresh.]

Please, Squall. Listen to our voices. Listen to Cyndaquil. We are real!

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall's hand remains firm on his shoulders, his fingers digging deeper. He's muttering again, low under his breath. ]

A trick. Has to be. Her doing. Not here. not here. Not dead. Not dead. Not there. Not There. Trick. Trick. Trick. Illusion. Just like then. Just like Cosmos. Trick. Trick. Trick. Has to be. Needs to be.

[ He can't breathe. His breathes become shorter. ]

Didn't fail, couldn't failed. Made sure. Made damn sure.

I killed her. I had to kill her.

[ he lifts his head, opening his eyes before he ducks down again, closing them tightly, hating what he just (thinks) he sees ]



Dead. My fault. All my fault.

Couldn't protect them. Couldn't protect any of them.

Useless. Worthless.

In the end.

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Light isn't at all sure what to do to calm Squall down. He's never had to help anyone in this state, let alone someone that he knows to usually be calm and in control.]

Squall, Ultimecia is not here. You defeated her. No one is dead. It is an illusion. It must be difficult to see, but I swear to you that it is not real.

[He will not make any assumptions about the things that happened on Squall's world, but the warrior will tell him what he knows is true.]

[action]

[paladinlost]

Don't you dare call yourself useless.

[It's not fair. It's not fair for Squall to be tormented by these nightmares like this, to feel so much guilt for nothing. Whoever did this, Cecil will make them pay.]

When I first arrived here, I was terrified. I'd been separated from my friends, I didn't recognize the town around me, I wasn't even fully myself... But then you answered me. You reassured me. You came to meet me. And when you did... I was really happy. Happier than I'd been in a long time.

So please, listen to us! Ultimecia is gone! The ten of us all survived! And I'm sure that, back home, there are many people waiting for you! You didn't fail anyone!

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[He couldn't help it. First Cecil, then Light, now Squall. He pushed Squall onto his back and his hand flew, meeting the teen's cheek hard.]

Listen to us! This is all an illusion! Look past what your mind sees and see us! There is no Ultimecia! There is only Cecil, Light, and I. We are not dead and we are still in Cherrygrove city!

Please Squall! Your friends are here to guide you, we are no illusion. Open your eyes and take courage! Listen to our voices and heed our call!

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall's head snaps from the force the slap. He doesn't move, his eyes closed until he slowly opens them. He shudders suddenly at what he thinks he sees but says nothing, does nothing else

[ Voices, he could hear voices around him--different almost from what the... corpses are saying, muttering, yelling at him (telling him what he had been muttering, thinking, for the last day and a half). The new voices, however, are hard to ignore, keep saying that it's all an illusion, that it's not real. Squall tries to focus on them, something about them being clearer and more real, before the corpses start screaming at him (Failure, Failure. Didn't protect us. Didn't save us. What type of Leader are you?) ]

Hyne.

[ There might be tears building in his eyes as the landscape changes suddenly (supposedly) to the island ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

Firion.

[Light isn't exactly reprimanding, but he doesn't entirely approve of the hitting. The illusions are very difficult to break through. He still hasn't entirely banished his own, and if he didn't have this to help focus him, he would probably slip back into it himself.]

Keep trying, Squall. It isn't real.

[action]

[paladinlost]

We need to get him out of here. Whatever is the cause of this, if we manage to get him away...

[But would getting away truly be enough?]

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

It does not matter where we take him. Every City and Route is experiencing this.

[He feels bad for slapping the man, but he didn't know what else to do. all he could do was try and snap him out of it. With Cecil and Light, he spoke and convinced them. But Squall was experience something much more devastating and it was having a profound effect.]

Squall just needs to realize that this is reality. That we are real and that what he think he is seeing is not. My voice broke through your nightmare, Cecil. And ours got through Light's. We all need to break through Squall's nightmare now.

action; ( s-so s-sorry. orz)

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ The words 'this is reality' were the only ones that actually registers in the SeeD's mind, nothing else they said (Warrior, Cecil, even the rest of what Firion said) took hold in his mind. Abruptly and without warning, Squall's other hand (the one not digging into his shoulder) shoots out as his body launches forward, tackling the person who spoke those words. Whatever grip Warrior had on him breaks as the SeeD slams the speaker onto the ground, straddling on top of Firion with one hand on the weapon master's neck.

[ Squall's facial expression completely changes. He snarls low, gripping hard glaring at his mind's perceived notion of who said "This is reality". The Sorceress. It's the Sorceress standing before Squall, her voice (the haunting crackle of her accented voice) sounding in Squall's imagination.

--This is reality. No one kan help you. Sit back and enjoy the show. SeeD. A Kursed SeeD, a mere lokust of existence! I've won. You failed. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!--

[ Edea might have been the one to speak that line to him (to everyone) but it was because Ultimecia in control, possessing his Matron, delivering the killing blow on the Galbadian president as Squall and Irvine watched from afar.

[ The island around him remained but this time, he could hear (or think he could hear) the sounds of a parade approaching him, of the band and orchestra playing that haunting song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kjkanvutvk).

[ Instead of dancers and spectators, Squall could see the corpses from before filling in their places, dancing, cheering, surrounding, mocking him. Rinoa, a decaying Rinoa, stands in Seifer's place next to the Sorceress.

[ Squall's grip tightens. ]



This ends now!

[ He growls darkly, previously blank eyes flashing gunmetal gray with fury ]

[action] I need to stop failing at being on at the right time.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

Of course we have to-

[Warrior is cut off when Squall suddenly flies upright, breaking the grip he had on the hand on Squall's shoulder and pushing him backward. He sees Squall push Firion down and grab for his throat, and hears him shout. He's obviously still stuck deep in the illusion.]

[He grabs at Squall's arm, doing his best to wrestle his grip off of Firion's throat and to pull him back. He's nearly shouting now, to try and get through to the gunblade wielder. This can't continue- Squall has to wake up soon, or they might be forced to fight him.]

You're attacking your comrades. Let go, now!

[action]

[paladinlost]

[That is not good.]

Squall, please, stop! That is Firion you are attacking!

[For the first time since those nightmares started, he takes out Cleffa.]

Cleffa, sing that song again! The one that made the rats fall asleep.

[He can only hope it will work on a human.]

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[His back hit the ground so hard, the bandanna flew off and for a moment, he was dazed. Until his windpipe was suddenly cut off. With a strangled breath, he pulled at Squall's arm. But his grip was like a vice and because he straddled at the waist, Firion couldn't kick him off.

Eyes shut tight, he kicked and pulled at Squall regardless. The near body slam had already taken most of his air and he hadn't had much time to take it another breath for it was cut off.]

...gk-!

[The grip tightened, he was in pain now. Firion winced and frantically tried to breath, his heart pounding too fast. He couldn't breath! Stars were filling his vision, darkness encroaching at the edges. Even his efforts were starting to slow.]

action; (s-so late)

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Physically, his ears hears it--a new song--but his mind couldn't process it. It's too soft, too faint for the song to completely affect him. But that didn't stop his body from slowly loosening its hold on Firion's neck, allowing him to breathe just a bit better. A bit easier.

[ In Squall's head, he could still hear her, that wretched song that played during the parade, the laugh of the Witch, the mocking words of the crowds. He could see her, smirking at him from below.

[ Squall growls again, eyes narrowing into an unfocused glare, oblivious to everything around him ]

[action] Also late.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Firion's slowing struggles only strengthened the Warrior's. He tightened his grip on Squall's arm and tried once again to force him to let go. So for, he was only trying to get Squall off, but if this continued, he might have to attack Squall, to stop him. Hopefully they could break him from the illusion without having to do that.]

Squall, let go!

[It seems like Cleffa's song isn't working. They need to do something else.]

Cecil, help me to pull him off!

[action] Late party is go?

[paladinlost]

Got it.

[He joins Light and starts pulling, strongly but not too harshly. Squall is already panicked enough; giving him more reasons to attacked them would be a bad idea. Meanwhile, he keeps muttering under his breath, as reassuringly as possible.]

It's alright, it's alright, we're not your enemies, it's alright, please come back...

[He can only hope his words reach Squall.]

[action] \o/

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[When that vice-like grip slackens, even if only a little, Firion's chest is expanding rapidly to draw in air desperately. He coughs and sputters as his fingers claw at the arm holding him down.]

Sq-Squall!

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall's body drooped slightly, fatigue induced by the pokemon's song trying to take over but it's not working, not completely. His body is still tense, muscle coiled tightly inside him. He could see her and only her. The only words that could break through his mind are the ones she said to him long ago, before the Conflict--back during the war.

[ He's back there. Facing her again as she stands above him, laughing mockingly from her throne. The dancers of the parade swarms around him, repeating her words.

[ --SeeD, SeeD, Kursed SeeD; Foolish SeeD.--

[ Squall growls, shaking his head fervently, trying to get rid of the sudden tiredness in his limbs. He tries to focus on the fact that he's not there (he can't be there, it's impossible to be in two places at once--had to be a trick, a trick induced by her powers, to keep him confused; make him less likely to kill her now), not in her throne room and that's it's really her underneath him. Her that he's trying to kill ]



[ Squall's arm pulls back, even with Warrior and Cecil holding onto it before he slams Firion's head and neck back onto the ground ]

[action] Whoa, Squall.

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Squall begins to pull back, and at first the Warrior almost believes that he is letting go and drawing back. For a moment, his grip loosens, and that is enough for Squall to slam Firion down again, with his hand still around the other Cosmos Warrior's neck.]

Firion!

[Light can see the way Firion's goes limp when his head connects with the ground. He is probably only knocked unconscious, since a blow like that wouldn't have the power to kill someone, but it is the final straw. Whatever the nightmare Squall is facing, it is stronger than the ones that Cecil and Light faced, because it doesn't allow their words to get through to him. Trying to talk Squall out of this clearly isn't working.

So now the Warrior draws back, only for a moment, enough to get more space, and swings a fist at Squall's jaw. He doesn't do anything to temper the blow. There would be time for apologies later, but this needed to be ended now, before Squall could get a chance to do any more harm.]

[action]

[paladinlost]

[Nothing they try is working, as a matter of fact it seems Squall's visions are getting worse. Cecil is really starting to panic, and it worsens when Squall attacks Firion once more. They can't reach him, they can't slow him down, they can't make him fall asleep...

By that point, Cecil doubts a punch would work. If anything, it would make Squall even angrier.]

We should contact the authorities! They might be trained to deal with that sort of case!

[He tries to reach his Pokégear, but it's too far away and he really doesn't want to let go of Squall right now.]

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[Firion felt pain shoot from his neck and head before everything went black, his body falling limp and giving Squall free reign once more to choke him, even as he had already fallen unconscious.]

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ Squall lets go of Firion, the force of the punch driving him off the Weapon Master completely. His head still turned to the side, he breathes heavily with his back to the ground. He groans, teeth clenched hard.

[ His Cyndaquil walks up to his face, its fire blazing bright red on its back in worry and fear (adrenaline pumping through the mouse's veins). The Heat of the flames incites a full-body jerk out of Squall before the SeeD scrambles into back into a standing position, away from his starter.

[ Fire. Fireball. Seifer. That night, during the storm. Before everything happened. A gunblade slashing downwards, blood on his face

[ Squall starts rubbing the scar on his face ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[Well, it's better than Squall attacking them, but this new reaction isn't all that much of an improvement. He glances from the unconscious Firion to Squall for a moment, before rising to his feet. Firion can wait until they get Squall calmed down.]

Squall? Can you hear us now?

[action]

[paladinlost]

[Cecil is torn between two options. Squall seems to be calmer now, but his reaction to Cyndaquil shows that he is not behaving normally. He might still need to be restrained. But Firion is unconscious, and there is no way for them to determine the extent of his injuries. He needs assistance, and he needs it quickly.

So Cecil takes out his Pokéball and calls out Cleffa, sending her to Firion. Once that is done, he turns back toward Squall.]

Squall, it's us. Warrior of Light and Firion and Cecil. Can you see us, or do you see someone else?

[action]

[thisdesertrose.livejournal.com]

[With a strangled cough, Firion awoke. His neck was on fire and his head hurt and the back of his neck hurt. Every cough hurt worse than the last in his bruised throat and blearily, he noticed Cleffa by his side.]

Wh-Where is Sq-[cough]-Squall?

action;

[solidbarrels.livejournal.com]

[ He doesn't see them, any of them. Instead he's more focused on the blood on his face, the blood he's not feeling on his fingers.

[ Revolver. Revolver wasn't in his hand. It was supposed to be in his hands when the heat of fire rushed into this face. His blade was supposed to shield him but the fire, it wasn't surging at him. Wasn't flying toward him. It was just near him. Just happened to appear near him, near his face. Suddenly, spontaneously, instantly. Seifer's attack, he saw coming, felt the heat grow hotter as it approached but this... this was different.

[ What the hell was going on?

[ The voices, the song, everything is fading. It's a fog wrapped around his mind. He's still on the island, he still sees the barren wasteland he traversed after Ultimecia was defeated, after Edea had...

[ After Edea absorbed her powers.

[ He killed her, Ultimecia, during the conflict. He made sure of it. Her blood was on Revolver's blade, it took hours (days) for him to be convinced that he got rid of that tainted blood. Even though it only took him an hour to clean the blade from blood so the others wouldn't see what he done, to see the visible evidence on his sword. ]

What's... going on?

[ Squall mutters this to himself (not really expecting an answer--he's alone, isn't he?), the hand on his face dropping down. His eyes are closed, his breathing controlled and even. ]

[action]

[for-cosmos.livejournal.com]

[And finally, finally, Squall is breaking through the illusion, or at least moving out of the murderous rage he had been in before. Anything is an improvement, at this point. The Warrior cautiously drew closer, though not close enough for Squall to strike out against. Hopefully Squall was starting to come to his senses, but the Warrior wasn't about to take his chances.]

We are surrounded by a fog that induces hallucinations. Firion, Cecil, and I are the only ones here, other than your Cyndaquil.